Futher Reflections: A game, a life come into the light

10:50 PM,
May 8, 2013

Written by

Michael Wellman

This is an excerpt from Michael Wellman's first fiction book, "Versus the Demons," which begins on May 2, 1930, the real-life date of one of professional baseball's history-making events: the first professional ballgame ever played under permanent lights. The game between the Des Moines Demons and Wichita Aviators was played at old Holcomb Park, which was located where North High School now stands.

Snooseville was not far from Holcomb Park, the ramshackle home of the Des Moines Demons, a minor-league team in which interest had flagged and promised to sink even lower now that money was so ...